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Highligh Historial Fiction for Tweens

Tweens, have you read The Lions of Little Rock, by Kristin Levine? Did you enjoy it? If so, you might like might enjoy learning more on this topic. There is also a link for teachers at the bottom of this post.

The Lions of Little Rock, by Kristin Levine, is one of the books that I read this summer. It is a historical fiction book that It takes place in Little Rock, Arkansas, during the year of 1958. Painfully shy twelve-year-old, Marlee sees her city and family divided over school integration, but her friendship with Liz, a new student, helps her find her voice and fight against racism.

Over 50 years ago, in Little Rock, Arkansas, nine brave black students stood up for their rights and made history. The integration of Central High School in Little Rock changed the course of education in America forever, and became one of the pivotal points in the Civil Rights Movement. In Remember Little Rock award-winning author Paul Robert Walker uses eyewitness accounts and on-the-scene news photography to take a fresh look at a time of momentous consequence in U.S. history. Here, we get the story from all sides: the students directly involved; their fellow students, black and white; parents on both sides; military, police, and government officials. The author uses personal interviews with many of those who attended the 50th anniversary celebration in 2007, and explores what happened, what's changed, what hasn't, and why.

As a child growing up in Arkansas, Daisy Bates experienced segregation in restaurants, parks, and stores. At school, she and her classmates were crowded into poorly equipped rooms and deprived of the quality of education their white neighbors enjoyed. The practice of forcing African Americans to use separate, often inferior, facilities was an accepted way of life in many parts of the United States. As an adult, Daisy Bates spoke out about civil rights in an influential newspaper she co-published with her husband, and she became her state's NAACP president. In 1957, after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered public schools to integrate, she was the mentor of the nine black students who attended Little Rock's Central High School amid the protests of thousands of angry whites. Daisy Bates guided those students-the Little Rock Nine-through a year filled with verbal and physical abuse. The furor reached such a pitch that soldiers were called in to patrol the school and control the angry mobs outside. Mrs. Bates herself became a target of racists, who shattered her windows, burned crosses on her lawn, and threatened her life. In this inspiring companion to their previous distinguished biographies, Judith and Dennis Fradin have drawn upon archival material as well as interviews with Daisy Bates's relatives and members of the Little Rock Nine. The result is a compelling book about the triumph of one courageous woman who made a difference.

After a black third grader named Linda Brown was refused admission to an all-white school in 1950, the NAACP filed a lawsuit on her behalf. Brown v. Board of Education: The Struggle for Equal Education examines the individual stories behind this historic case, details of the Supreme Court decision, various challenges to the ruling around the country.

In 1892, a black shoemaker named Homer Plessy was arrested for sitting in the "White" railroad car in Louisiana. Though Plessy was only one-eighth black, he was considered black under Louisiana law and therefore required to sit in the "Colored" car. Found guilty, in his appeal to the Supreme Court, the verdict was upheld with the finding that separate but equal facilities for the races were not unconstitutional. This doctrine was quickly used to cover many areas of public life. This fascinating book looks at race relations in America, and the fight to change the "separate but equal" law in Louisiana.